Bone Painting Coroner

A lavish gift?

Haha! Someone immediately tacked on, “There’s no need to prepare a lavish gift. Miss Tang is already the best gift he could ever receive. Whatever we can send over will never compare.”

“Yes, yes, you’re right.” They got more excited as they talked.

……

As the head of the guards, Lang Po naturally also had to express his own views. He cupped his hands and bowed, “Congratulations to Young Master Mo in advance. I wish that your halls will be filled with children and grandchildren living in joy and harmony.” Boorish brutes as they were, even their congratulations sounded so uncouth.

Mo Ruo’s face turned green as he turned towards Jing Rong. “Are you not going to discipline them?”

Jing Rong smiled and decided to pick up a stick to prod the fire, sending out even more sparks. “This prince thinks that there’s nothing wrong with what they’re saying.” He raised an eyebrow, “Let me congratulate you in advance. When we return to the capital, this prince will gift you a few pots of good wine so that you can be properly intoxicated on your wedding night.”

Pah! Mo Ruo glared at him. Were they still brothers? Didn’t they grow up together since they were still in diapers?

Jing Rong totally ignored the glare that Mo Ruo sent his way and continued stoking the fire.

Mo Ruo then turned his gaze toward Ji Yunshu and asked, “Aren’t you going to discipline this man?”

Ah, she even got shot while lying down! One side of Ji Yunshu’s lips curved upwards slightly as she shrugged, “Forgive this one for being powerless to help.”

“Argh!” Mo Ruo was so mad he was about to explode. He shuffled over about another handspan’s distance away from them.

However, Tang Si shuffled back next to him. She had been teased by everyone left and right until her entire face flushed red. She bit her lips shyly and twisted her hands together and secretly peeked at Mo Ruo out of the corner of her eyes. However, when all that answered her was an eyeroll, her shy expression evaporated instantly. Tang Si snatched up that firestick from Jing Rong’s hands and threw it at Mo Ruo’s feet.

“Hmph!” She stood up abruptly and stalked off into the depths of the forest.

When the flaming torch landed by Mo Ruo’s feet, the sparks landed on the ends of his robes and they caught fire. Ah! He quickly got to his feet and flapped his sleeves to put out the fire. A large hole was burnt clean through his clothes and the edges were singed. He was also so shocked that his face had turned white. If he survived being assassinated only to be burned to death just like this, wouldn’t that be too ignoble?

Jing Rong looked at him with a pitying expression. Mo Ruo thought that he was going to say something to console him, but instead… “Really, that Miss Tang. There are so many pieces of firewood around but she just had to snatch the one in this prince’s hands. Look at that wooden stick - it originally was as straight as a pencil, but now it’s been burnt into ashes. It’s such a pity.”

Pah! Mo Ruo almost spat out a wad of blood. He glowered at the people around him, “Are you guys doing this on purpose?” Everyone laughed aloud without bothering to hide it.

However, Ji Yunshu suddenly reminded him, “You’d better go take a look at Miss Tang. She ran into the wood alone - what if something happened to her?”

“I’m not going.” Mo Ruo plopped back down on his butt. “Doesn’t she always say that she grew up in the wilderness? She isn’t even scared of wolves - would she be scared of ghosts?” He refused to go. Even better if that woman got lost in the woods and starved for a few days.

Jing Rong also stopped teasing him and stretched out a leg to kick him lightly, “Quickly go after her. We’re not far from the capital now so you’d better not create any trouble.”

Mo Ruo hung onto his pride and stayed put stubbornly for a while before he reluctantly got up to chase after her. Before he left he raised a last complaint, “What kind of bloody bad luck do I have, really!”

Everyone laughed again. “That Miss Tang is sure interesting. Although her personality is rather wild and she’s rather short-tempered, she really does make a good counterweight for Young Master Mo, don’t you think?”

“They really are perfect for each other, but Young Master Mo is really going to suffer for the rest of his life.”

“You can’t say that. Women will change after getting married. By then, she would be so gentle to Young Master Mo.”

“But women must be disciplined properly and cannot be left to their own devices. Then when they are occasionally given a little sweetness, they will commit themselves wholeheartedly.”

“The women that you speak of are not like Miss Tang. Look at her - who would dare offend her? Even if they got married she might not necessarily be able to obey her husband and educate their children.”

This bunch of men that all had yet to marry were talking about life after marriage as if what they said were fact and that they all had personal experience with it.

“Anyways I bet that in the future, it will surely be Young Master Mo that loses out.”

“I bet that Miss Tang would lose.”

“What are we betting?”

“Betting on silver.”

“Come, come. Bet’s on!” Thus, someone took on the role of banker and everyone else took out their silver to place bets in a flurry. Hey, hey, are you treating Jing Rong as if he were dead?

However, Jing Rong was not bothered at all and even looked on interestedly as everyone placed their bets. “Who is coming out stronger in the odds?”

The banker did a quick count and replied, “The bets on Miss Tang are a little higher than those on Young Master Mo.”

Jing Rong nodded and silently took out a few bits of broken silver from his clothes and passed them over. “This prince bets that Mo Ruo will win Miss Tang.”

Everyone was stunned. The banker accepted the silver and enquired again, “Your Highness, are you sure?”

“After all, Mo Ruo grew up with this prince. I should help him save a bit of face and not let him lose too badly.”

Ack. Everyone felt as if someone had thumped them heavily on the back, making them spit out fresh blood. Quick, go get a basin to collect the blood. This prince’s tongue is really too poisonous!

Jing Rong remained nonchalant. He may be a prince but he’s still human. So what if he put down a bet if he had the urge? Who said that princes couldn’t gamble? Really!

The next moment, Ji Yunshu also reached into her own clothes and passed a silver tael to the banker. He asked, “Teacher Ji, who are you betting on?”

She thought for a moment. “Hmm… I’ll bet on the leopard.”

Leopard? The guards all looked on blankly. Where did a leopard come from? “Teacher Ji, there are no leopards here!”

“Why wouldn’t there be? If I said there is, there surely will be.”

They couldn’t wrap their heads around it and even Jing Rong looked at her in puzzlement. She continued, “I’m going to bet that if the two of them really got married and lived on in peace and harmony. Wouldn’t both of them win then?” [1]

Ah, that was true! Everybody nodded in agreement. Because of that, several people changed their bets and followed her to bet on ‘leopard’. It was extremely lively and festive.

However, Jing Rong’s gaze remained fixed on her. Ji Yunshu asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I haven’t seen you this happy recently.”

She smiled, “I’m just worried about Wei Yi. Don’t worry, I won’t let anything happen to myself.”

Jing Rong nodded.

...

At the same moment, Mo Ruo was busy chasing after Tang Si.

That lass somehow managed to disappear like a wisp of smoke. He couldn’t find her wherever he looked. It was deep into the night already and the woods were filled with nothing but the whistle of the wind and the occasional howl of wolves from a distance. As a martial artist, Mo Ruo was naturally light footed and didn’t make much noise either.

He held a large torch in his hands and shone it all around but saw nothing but large trees and short grasses. “Where did she go? Don’t tell me she really was eaten by wolves? I was just saying that casually - there better be nothing that really happened to her.”

Mo Ruo grew increasingly worried and started walking quicker in his search for her.

[1] This is a (chinese?) gambling term that means all three dice have the same number showing.